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George Orwell's novel Animal Farm is a great example of allegory and political satire. The novel was written to criticize totalitarian regimes and particularly Stalin's corrupt rule in Russia. In the first chapter Orwell gives his reasons for writing the story and what he hopes it will accomplish. It also gives reference to the farm and how it relates to the conflicts of the Russian revolution. The characters, settings, and the plot were written to describe the social upheaval during that period of time and also to prove that the good nature of true communism can be turned into something atrocious by an idea as simple as greed. This essay will cover the comparisons between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution.
It will also explain why this novel is a satire and allegory to the Revolution that took place in Russia so long ago. First and foremost Manor Farm itself represents Russia with its poor conditions and irresponsible leaders. Mr. Jones plays one of those leaders, Nicholas the Second or The Czar as people called him in those days. Mr. Jones beats his animals, forgets to feed them and treats them badly.
His actions are portrayals of the actions of The Czar. Old Major is representative of Karl Marx. Marx had a dream of a better Russia and created the doctrine of communism to aid in distribution of wealth, and to bring the people to a place were they would all be equal, but what he didnt realize was that under the wrong rule the good intentions of communism would become corrupt. Surely if communism and animalism were carried out by the right sorts of people and animals with good and true intentions, their communities would have prospered instead of falling and ultimately being destroyed. He died before getting to see the rise of his creation just as Old Major did.
The rise and fall of Lenin by Stalin is portrayed in Napoleons actions toward Snowball. Even though Lenin had some good intentions towards the people of Europe he was still slightly corrupt and susceptible to being overthrown. Stalin took advantage of this. He soon took his position and began his corrupt rule with the people tricked into believing he was a better leader and had the peoples issues at heart.
After the attack on Jones, (The Czar) Snowball becomes the leader and changes the name of Manor farm to Animal Farm, which represents the good of the change that has been made. Snowball portrays Lenin who is the first leader of Russia to rule under the new doctrine of communism. Snowball comes up with many great ideas about how to make animal farm prosper even though he is a little corrupt as well. One of the ideas is the construction of a windmill to improve the efficiency.
Napoleon, representing Stalin, opposes the idea and after betraying Snowball by convincing the other animals that he is a spy, has him run off of the farm by the dogs that represent the KGB. Napoleon puts the animals hard to work building the very same windmill he opposed at first. This should have given him away as a corrupt leader in the beginning. The most important part of a country is the people and Orwell was sure to represent their opinions and internal struggles. Boxer represents the blind followers who were probably too stubborn to believe that someone they trusted would deceive them. He ultimately took on the philosophy that Napoleon was always right exemplifying some of Russias beliefs that these leaders must know what theyre doing so they just worked hard and believed that Stalin would do what was in the best interest of the people.
Then there were the skeptical people. The part of these people was played by Benjamin. He was weary of Napoleons actions such as them drinking whisky and becoming involved with Mr. Pinkleton by engaging in trade with him. When Napoleon sold Boxer to the glue factory that showed the betrayal of the people by Stalin. Then the final straw by renaming the farm back to Manor Farm was written to show that they had not only digressed back to the point where they started at but now they where worse off than before.
Even though admiration for him brought most of the animals together for a sense of sick unity the farm still ended up being scattered in the storm. Animal Farm is a wonderful example of how inefficient the idea of communism is under corrupt rule. Communism was created as a remedy for the mistreatment of the people and unequal distribution of wealth. The only flaw is that, like most forms of government, it is corruptible under the wrong leadership. This novel is a great example how true communism and animalism can be easily spoiled by human nature - greed and discontentment This is represented by the pigs sleeping in beds, drinking whisky, killing other animals, living in the house and engaging in trade. Eventually this In other words, taking on the selfish characteristics of humans.
Selfishness isnt necessarily wrong but when it evolves to greed problems such as the ones in Animal Farm and the Russian revolution occur.
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Research essay sample on Animal Farm And The Russian Revolution
